Ark Encounter—The Lessons

The Ark Encounter project certainly created a buzz! And it’s a buzz that should remind us of lessons we should have already learned in regard to the spiritual nature of the world we live in today.

Pitch in a Peg

Help us build a full-scale Noah’s Ark!
AiG’s part in the $172 million Ark Encounter
project is raising $24.5 million in
donations for an all-wood Ark, the centerpiece
of the whole multi-attraction
complex! A finished Ark will be a great
testimony to the historicity of the Bible.
For an explanation of the funding of the
entire Ark Encounter, go to www.ArkEncounter.com.

Our announcement several weeks ago that Answers in Genesis
will be building a full-scale, all-wood
Noah’s Ark in northern Kentucky,
together with exhibits that answer the
most-asked questions about this huge
vessel—the centerpiece of an amazing
160-acre history-based theme park called Ark Encounter—received
remarkable media attention.

A feature story on ABC-TV’s “World News with Diane Sawyer”
and a lengthy article in the New York Times (plus an item in Newsweek) started a media frenzy that quickly went international. Two reporters from German newspapers came here to interview us, and stories also
appeared in newspapers in India, Israel, Italy, Hong Kong, Norway,
Czech Republic, UK, my native Australia, etc.

As might be expected when a project of this
size and growing popularity affirms the truth of
the Bible, many in the secular media (plus bloggers)
reacted quite negatively. Misinformation and outright false
accusations were made about how the Ark is to be built and
operated. The same sort of thing happened years ago as we
were building and then opening the Creation Museum.

Sadly, even some church leaders have blasted the project
or made ill-informed, negative comments.

Of course, atheist bloggers poured forth hatred as they
wrote (and continue to write on a daily basis) emotional,
error-laden blogs against the Ark project.

There were also hundreds (perhaps thousands) for-and-against
letters and web comments in newspapers
and on the Internet.

The Ark Encounter project certainly created a buzz!
And it’s a buzz that should remind us of lessons we
should have already learned in regard to the spiritual
nature of the world we live in today.

Before I get to those lessons, here are just a couple
of negative reactions to the future Ark
Encounter and our current Creation
Museum:

The most tragic part of the Creation
Museum on both of my
visits was the intellectual child
abuse. There’s some heartbreaking
stuff in this video [on the
Ark Encounter website] . . . plus
a preview of the idiotic Noah’s
Ark nonsense that Kentucky will
soon be known for around the
globe if Ark Encounter is built.

Not only will the state of Kentucky
give $40 million in tax
breaks to Ken Ham so we can be
an accomplice to such intellectual
child abuse, we’re also going to
spend many millions on road
construction to help them out
as well. Based on the numbers
in Ken Ham’s insanely inflated
fake study, of course . . . .1

And here is one co-authored by
a Baptist minister in the state where
we will build the Ark:

We represent lay and clergy leaders
from the Christian, Jewish,
Islamic, Baha’i, Quaker, Buddhist,
Hindu and other faith groups
practicing in Central Kentucky.

As an organization that has been
promoting and practicing interfaith
engagement and understanding
here in the Bluegrass
[State] for over 10 years, we have
serious concerns about the recent
announcement of the proposed
Ark Encounter theme park sponsored
by Answers in Genesis . . . .

We know many people still hold
anti-scientific views. However,
when Kentucky presents even
the appearance of advancing or
promoting one particular version
of faith over other faiths, or over
none, it does enormous damage
to the future of interfaith understanding,
respect and hope for
peace that so many have worked
so hard to ensure.

Here are the lessons for believers
to learn—or to be reminded of—as
we see how biblical Christianity is
being attacked in an increasingly
secular world.

First, don’t be surprised at how
the world reacts. Romans 1 tells us
that the ungodly “suppress the truth
in unrighteousness.” The reason so
many atheist bloggers and secular
reporters/editorial writers reacted so
negatively and write so furiously against
the project (and AiG) is because they
know in their hearts that there is a
God—and they actively suppress that.

What we are seeing today is just the
outworking of this active suppression.
Right before our eyes, the warnings
from God’s Word are being illustrated.

Also, remember that “the heart
is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Proverbs 1:29 also reminds us that
these scoffers “hate knowledge.”

Second, we should not be surprised
when religious leaders oppose
those of us who stand for the truth
of God’s Word. When Jesus the
“God-man” walked on earth, He
had to deal with—and rebut—the
religious leaders of the day.

I think of the verses: “Beware of
false prophets, who come to you in
sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they
are ravenous wolves” (Matthews 7:15)
and how “shepherds have led them
astray . . .” (Jeremiah 50:5).

One of the thrilling lessons from
all the opposition is that God’s people
will see this attack on biblical authority
and will get excited to be part of a
project that will boldly and publicly
take a stand for the truth of God’s
Word in this culture. Thankfully,
there are thousands upon thousands
in this nation who haven’t “bowed
the knee to Baal.”

As we move forward in faith with
this phenomenal God-honoring Ark
project, we humbly ask you to join us.
And let’s remember the lesson from
Jude 3, where we are told to “contend
earnestly for the faith which was once
for all delivered to the saints.”

Footnotes

Dozens of media outlets/bloggers have been falsely reporting the nature of the tax incentives; see www.ArkEncounter.com for the real story. Also, the so-called
“fake” research was conducted by renowned
researcher Britt Beemer of ARG, whose expertise in
behavioral research was called upon last December
by the New York Times (twice, including in a front-page
story) and the CBS Evening News.

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Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus on providing answers to questions about the Bible—particularly the book of Genesis—regarding key issues such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth.